1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to disk drives. More particularly, this invention relates to an actuator arm assembly for a disk drive.
2. Description of the Prior Art and Related Information
A huge market exists for hard disk drives for mass-market host computer systems such as servers, desktop computers, and laptop computers. To be competitive in this market, a hard disk drive must be relatively inexpensive, and must accordingly embody a design that is adapted for low-cost mass production. In addition, it must provide substantial capacity, rapid access to data, and reliable performance. Numerous manufacturers compete in this huge market and collectively conduct substantial research and development, at great annual cost, to design and develop innovative hard disk drives to meet increasingly demanding customer requirements.
Each of numerous contemporary mass-market hard disk drive models provides relatively large capacity, often in excess of 20 gigabytes per drive. Nevertheless, there exists substantial competitive pressure to develop mass-market hard disk drives that have even higher capacities and that provide rapid access. Another requirement to be competitive in this market is that the hard disk drive must conform to a selected standard exterior size and shape often referred to as a “form factor.” Generally, capacity is desirably increased without increasing the form factor or the form factor is reduced without decreasing capacity.
Satisfying these competing constraints of low-cost, small size, high capacity, and rapid access requires innovation in each of numerous components and methods of assembly including methods of assembly of various components into certain subassemblies. Typically, the main assemblies of a hard disk drive are a head disk assembly and a printed circuit board assembly.
The head disk assembly includes an enclosure including a base and a cover, at least one disk having at least one recording surface, a spindle motor for causing each disk to rotate, and an actuator arrangement. The printed circuit board assembly includes circuitry for processing signals and controlling operations.
Actuator arrangements can be characterized as either linear or rotary; substantially every contemporary cost-competitive small form factor drive employs a rotary actuator arrangement.
The rotary actuator arrangement is a collection of elements of the head disk assembly; the collection typically includes certain prefabricated subassemblies and certain components that are incorporated into the head disk assembly. The prefabricated assemblies include a pivot bearing cartridge and, in some cases, a prefabricated head stack assembly which may include the pivot bearing cartridge. Other components of the rotary actuator arrangement are permanent magnets and an arrangement for supporting the magnets to produce a magnetic field for a voice coil motor. The prefabricated head stack assembly includes a coil forming another part of the voice coil motor. The prefabricated head stack assembly also includes an actuator body having a bore through it, and a plurality of actuator arms projecting parallel to each other and perpendicular to the axis of the bore. The prefabricated head stack assembly also includes head gimbal assemblies that are supported by the arms. Each head gimbal assembly includes a suspension (“load beam”) and a head supported by the suspension. The suspension typically includes a nut plate (“swage plate”). The suspension and hence the head gimbal assembly may be attached to the actuator arm via a swaging operation.
Providing rapid access as the drive capacities increase presents certain challenges such as the reduction of track misregistration (“TMR”). One of the contributors to TMR is the vibration of actuator arms due to high speed air impact between the actuator arms and turbulent airflow as the spindle motor rotates the disk. The air pressure difference due to turbulent airflow around a given actuator arm generates forces on the arm which causes the arm to vibrate. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved head stack assembly in comparison to the prior art.